Mr. Charles Bayless, prior President and Provost, West Virginia University Institute of Technology, and retired Utility Executive presents:

"Climate Change and Ocean Acidification, our greatest challenge"

Mr. Bayless has had a long, diverse career in the Energy Sector and works closely with climate scientists. He is currently a board member of Pike Electric and Chair of the Audit Committee, Recycled Energy Development and West Virginia American Water. He is Chair of the Arctic Climate Action Steering Committee and a board member at the Climate Institute. He has served as President and CEO of Illinova Corporation (Illinois Power Company, among others), and of Tucson Electric Power Company (UniSource Energy). He was also Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Public Service Company of New Hampshire, and served as Chairman of Essential Power, Independent Wireless One, Ontario Power Authority, West Virginia Industrial Council

In 1993, Financial World awarded Mr. Bayless its CEO of the Year Bronze Medal. Also in 1993, the Wall Street Transcript named Mr. Bayless the winner of its CEO of the Year Bronze Medal. In 1995, Financial World awarded Mr. Bayless its CEO of the Year Silver Medal.

In New Hampshire, an average of 60% of the forest land is held by small, non-industrial private forest landowners. Grafton County alone is 82% forested with 66% of that land base in private ownership. Most of these private lands fall between 50-200 acres. This pattern of traditional New England land ownership places the majority of our forest resources in the hands of a diverse demographic whose land use objectives are highly variable.

Grafton County Extension Forester David Falkenham (an alumnus of PSU with a graduate degree in environmental education) will give a talk titled, "A day in the life of a county forester: working with New Hampshire's private woodlot owners to be the best stewards of the land."

The presentation will highlight Ray Reimold’s work with the State of New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Spill Response and Complaint Investigation Section. From home heating oil spills to tanker truck rollovers to sunken boats to meth labs, Ray’s position allows him to take on uncharted challenges daily. He works on a side of the environmental science field that is hands-on and action-packed, and brings him to the far corners of New Hampshire at all hours of the night in all types of weather.

Ray is a 2008 graduate of Plymouth State University’s Center for The Environment with a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science and Policy, working under Dr. Steve Kahl. Since 2008, he has been employed by the State of New Hampshire, as a member of the Spill Response and Complaint Investigation Section for New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. He is also a Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician on the Hebron Fire Department and an Officer/Hazardous Material Technician on the Central NH Hazardous Material Team.

Presenter: Scott BaileyResearch Geoecologist, US Forest Service, Northern Research Station

Concern about the effects of air pollution, climate change, and intensive harvests have heightened attempts to evaluate the sustainability of calcium supply to forests. This presentation takes a long look at the calcium economy of the nearby Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest to address the sources and fate of calcium as it is cycled through the ecosystem.

Scott Bailey is a Research Geoecologist with the US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, and adjunct faculty with the Center for the Environment. His research focuses on interactions between earth materials and water, with applications for understanding development of soil, regulation of water quality, and the distribution and function of plants.

There has been heightened interest, both in New Hampshire and nationally, in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, or STEM. Businesses are concerned that their demand for qualified workers in STEM occupations might be unmet by those completing programs at the state’s educational institutions. At the same time, students in STEM-related programs are concerned about obtaining employment after graduation. Is demand driven by an abundant supply of labor with STEM skills or are individuals pursuing STEM careers because demand is growing? STEM in New Hampshire is an effort to inform this labor market discussion.

Katrina Evans is the Assistant Director of the Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau of New Hampshire Employment Security. She has been with the Bureau for 17 years, serving primarily as the Workforce Information Database administrator and coordinator of One-Stop Labor Market Information activities. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of career and labor market information.

There are a myriad of proven environmental management strategies for stormwater that improve water quality, protect infrastructure, and plan for the future. What we are missing are the incentives to get developments, designers, and regulators to change their way of doing business. One such incentive is a stormwater utility - a utility that collects fees to pay for stormwater management based on the impervious area of properties. Imperviousness generates stormwater. Rather than putting the full burden of stormwater management on property taxpayers, stormwater utility fees are assessed across all developed properties, a fundamental fairness advantage for SWU. Cash-strapped municipalities will like stormwater utilities because of the need for revenue and the predictability of the revenue stream. Interest in stormwater utilities in New England is increasing. There are over 4,000 stormwater utilities nationally, so the upside for their creation in New England – we only have a half dozen – is substantial.

Steve Kahl is Director of Environmental and Energy Strategies at James Sewall Company in Old Town, Maine. He was the founding director of the Center for the Environment and the Environmental Research Laboratory at Plymouth State University and the founding Director of the Senator George Mitchell Center for Environmental Research at the University of Maine.

For more information on this and other events sponsored by the Center for the Environment, visit the Fall Science Colloquium website.

Dr. David Orwig will provide an overview of the hemlock woolly adlegid, including its history and impact on NE forests. He will present results from permanent plot data, which documents how forests respond to the decline and loss of hemlock and over what time intervals. David will also highlight the landscape-scale spread and impacts from studying 141 stands in CT and MA over time, address a related co-occurring pest, the elongate hemlock scale, and present on the most used treatment options developed to deal with this pest.

For more information about this talk or others, please contact Doug Earick, 535-2343 or dlearick@plymouth.edu

Since 2010 the Granite State Poll has asked more than 6,500 New Hampshire residents what they understand and believe about climate change. These beliefs prove surprisingly stable over 13 consecutive polls, which form a uniquely detailed record. Beliefs vary, however, with individual characteristics, with knowledge, and even with daily temperatures. Dr. Hamilton gives many examples including the April 2013 results, compares New Hampshire with U.S. responses, and talks about how these polls are designed, conducted and analyzed.

Larry Hamilton is Professor of Sociology and Senior Fellow at the Carsey Institute of the University of New Hampshire. His research includes many surveys examining public knowledge and beliefs about the environment. Recent papers have analyzed the demographics of true and false climate facts, or connections between public beliefs and the weather. The Feb. 1 issue of Science reprinted a striking result, the “Zorro” graph, from one of these studies.

Center for the Environment's Environmental Science Colloquium presents "Environmental Permitting for Wind Power in New Hampshire," with Ed Cherian, director of New England Development, Iberdrola Renewable Energies.

How are wind power projects permitted in New Hampshire? Recently this topic has received a lot of attention. The process in NH spans a number of years and includes studies required prior to making an application the state’s Site Evaluation Committee (SEC), and an approximately one year SEC process. The process covers everything from wildlife and avian studies, economic effects, engineering plans, sound and visual studies, and technical plans. The discussion will review the many steps in the NH permitting process for wind power projects, and discuss key issues.

Ed Cherian is the New England Development Director for Iberdrola Renewables, which is the largest renewable energy company in the world. Iberdrola constructed and owns and operates more than 50 wind farms in the US, including New Hampshire’s first wind farm in Lempster, NH. Mr. Cherian was the Project Manager and Construction Manager for the Lempster project, and was the Project Manager for the recently completed Groton Wind Farm.